Paterno vs Sandusky, Mistakes vs Predation

Paterno vs Sandusky, Mistakes vs Predation

The Penn State saga has been changing at a rapid clip since last Saturday when the PSU sex scandal broke but there’s been an odd morphing in media focus. MSM coverage became much more The Joe Paterno Story and its basis, Jerry Sandusky’s homosexual abuse of as many as 17 kids, has been all but lost in the shuffle.

Until Wednesday evening, there seemed to have been precious few people defending Joe Paterno so I thought I would.

However, following JoePa’s press release on Tuesday in which he expressed remorse for not having “done more,” taken more direct action in notifying police after he was initially told of alleged sex attack on a child by his defensive coordinator and indicated he would resign his position as head coach of the Nittany Lions, there was little to defend. Then the PSU Board of Trustees rendered that decision moot Wednesday evening by firing both Paterno and university president Graham Spanier.

Spanier will be no loss to Penn State. The effects of Paterno’s dismissal will be incalculable as will its root cause, Jerry Sandusky’s alleged, gross moral and ethical conduct over fifteen years.

Many people, far too many, take an inordinate delight in puncturing an icon, when a public figure is de-throned from a position of great prominence and reduced to the level of mere mortals. When that icon is a moral and ethical individual, which Mr. Joseph Vincent “Joe” Paterno was and still is, certain elements in our society are ecstatic.

Penn State University’s storied yet humble football coach would surely reject any suggestions that he was or ever should be ensconced on a throne or that he is immortal despite his outstanding record of achievements and his largely-unheralded list of contibutions to Penn State’s family of tens of thousands of students and hundreds of thousands of alumni.

I would have argued on his behalf and contended he should have stayed on at least until the end of the season because he’s not guilty of anything except perhaps being almost 85 years of age, 76 at the time he was advised of Sandusky’s actions. Paterno should have been allowed to retire on his own terms and to retain the honorable dignity he has always maintained both on and off the field but even icons have enemies.

The Bucks County grand jury exonerated him of any wrongdoing and commended him for immediately notifying Athletic Director Tim Curley of what he had been told. Curley and Gary Schultz, senior PSU VP for finance and business, were charged with a cover-up.

Nevertheless, the die had been cast and Paterno’s fate sealed when the Pennsylvania State Police Commisioner implied he was guilty of a lapse of “moral responsibility” by not contacting law enforcement officials directly and when he was accused of a greater interest in protecting the PSU “brand” than in protecting a child.

Both charges are reprehensible.

Correctly or incorrectly, Coach Paterno was following proper chain of command protocol in reporting to his higher up, Curley, and trusting the athletic director would fulfill his obligations. There is no basis to conclude he valued the safety of any brand over the safety of children, although there is merit in concluding he should have banished Sandusky from the campus, and especially from the shower rooms, until the matter was resolved even if they were still allegations.

The details of the retired defensive coach’s alleged serial sex crimes were initially widely publicized though they have been overshadowed by the mainstream media’s quick re-focusing on Paterno rather than on Sandusky. Apparently, destroying moral icons sells better than reporting yet another instance of homosexuals violating children. . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=5931.)